<b>They offer the promise that you would gain certain control over your life, but there's no guarantee it will work.<br></b>When it fails to work, most people try another app or another technique. The available evidence suggests these tools and strategies work for some people in some settings, but not for others.

Time-management tools

<div><div><div><p>These time-management tools assume a lot of things about the environment where they are used and the individual personalities of people who use them.</p><ul><li>Some people have a better awareness of how much time they will spend on a particular task. </li><li>Others are very prone to be optimistic when ‘budgeting' their time.</li><li>Some prefer to do one thing at a time, while others feel comfortable multi-tasking.</li></ul></div></div></div>

One size does not fit all

<p>Back when more people worked in factories, laborers did not have to deal with time management. At the assembly line, time was managed for you.</p><p><b><i>Freedom comes with responsibility: you have to think a lot more about how you manage your time.</i></b></p>

Balancing act

<p><b>Pursuing productivity for its own sake is counter-productive. </b></p><p>Most people feel able to complete more tasks when they start using time-management tools, but they don’t bear in mind that they can’t keep increasing their productivity forever, and they commit to more and more. In a few weeks, they are more productive but still frustrated. </p>

Uncritical Productivity

<p>You are going to die – and this is a crucial fact for time management that is very often neglected.</p><p>Time management tools <b>should allow you to take control of your life, and then structure your work around it</b> – <b>not the other way around.</b></p>

Take control of your life

Bear in mind that productivity is not an endless race, just a tool with limits. <div><p>Experiment often, as finding an approach that fits your personality and habits can be hard.</p></div>

No holy grail

<p>Many of these time-management tools are made by a very particular group of people: software developers. “We always want to solve a problem we have ourselves." Unsurprisingly, tech workers are among these tools’ biggest enthusiasts.</p><p>Many of the most popular apps and techniques evolved this way, as a particular solution for a specific problem someone else had – someone else who most likely does not work or think like you.</p>

Created by software developers

People are obsessed with time management. Every single person I have discussed this subject with had a strong opinion. There were fierce debates between those who say nothing works, those who swear by their low-tech Moleskines, and those who cannot live without their apps.